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DUHOK – The Islamic State (ISIS) hardline group executed on Monday three Imams in Iraq’s northwestern city of Mosul under the pretext that they refused urging youngsters to join the group’s ranks, local activists reported.

ISIS issued a decision last week, obliging all Imams of mosques in Mosul city to call for jihad and recruit the youth to join the group’s ranks.

The radical group has fortified its headquarters in Mosul in preparation for a possible attack by the Kurdish Peshmerga and Iraqi troops, supported by the U.S.-led coalition.

“The Imams Kazim Abdulkarim, Bilal al-Sheikh Agha and Abdullah al-Hayalli were brutally beheaded in a public square on Monday afternoon,” a local media activist told ARA News on the condition of anonymity.

Speaking to ARA News in Mosul, Iraqi researcher and journalist Saaduddin al-Othman said: “The three Imams were beheaded in central Mosul in front of dozens of people. The terrifying scene caused a popular outrage, especially that the victims were renowned figures and committed to true Islam; they have opposed ISIS atrocities under the name of Allah, that’s why the terror group executed them.”

Also on Monday, an Iraqi teacher, identified as Ashwaq al-Nouaymi, was shot dead by ISIS militants for refusing to teach the new curriculum imposed by the extremist group on the schools of Mosul, eyewitnesses said.

Al-Othman pointed out that “the ignorance of the Iraqi people” have helped ISIS to spread and take over major areas.

“When ISIS emerged, people have had enough of the suppression of the Iraqi regime, so many people swore allegiance to ISIS with a hope that the group would help them overthrow the regime. However, today Iraq is witnessing the most horrible crimes at the hands of those barbaric terrorists,” he told concluded.